Be on Guard!

 Be on guard!

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. (Matthew 27:57-66)

Joseph had placed Jesus in his tomb. The two women sat by and watched. Yet the guards were uneasy. They remembered what Jesus had said, that He would rise again! Imagine that . . . the guards were pondering Jesus' words!  They wanted to secure the tomb so no one could take the Body and say Jesus had resurrected. 

Later, the women would go and attempt to prepare a dead Jesus for proper burial. They and Peter would find an empty tomb . . . a Risen Jesus! 

We too must be on guard . . . but not at tomb or a cross. We must be on guard for the Coming Christ! He will return and bring His own home one day.

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)

As we live, we are to be living in anticipation of the Coming Christ. We are to be on guard, that our actions are pleasing to Him and allowing others to see Jesus in us. We cannot put off our work. We live . . . we labor . . . we love . . . all to His glory. We simply do not sit at the foot of an empty cross or wait at an empty tomb. No . . . we now bow before the Throne of a Risen King and  pledge our loyalty to Him and Him alone! 

Be on guard!!!!